Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) devices are commonly used in mobile computers due to their small footprint. However, SATA devices are sensitive to noise that may occur due to mechanical vibrations and via SATA connector movement. For example, when a mobile computer is placed on top of a desk, a mechanical vibration may result in glitches/noises on the SATA interface which may result in falsely detecting signal loss of synchronization. Glitches or noise may be generated due to hot-plug and hot-removal of SATA devices which may result in a false detection of loss of synchronization.
The SATA architecture includes a phy layer that performs a phy reset sequence after power on or reset to initialize a SATA link to be operational. After the SATA link is operational, the phy layer also performs the phy reset sequence upon detecting a loss of synchronization which may be due to detecting noise on the SATA link. The operations performed by the phy reset sequence may result in unsaved data being lost.
In order to protect against false detection of loss of synchronization, a SATA host typically delays initiating the phy reset sequence for a fixed time period. Typically the fixed time period is selected to ensure that intermittent noise on the SATA interface does not result in the initiation of a phy reset sequence. If the fixed time period is too short, the SATA host may initiate a phy reset sequence for each intermittent noise period. However, if the fixed time period is too long, the SATA host waits longer than necessary after detecting noise on the SATA interface before resuming normal operation.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments of the claimed subject matter, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the claimed subject matter be viewed broadly, and be defined only as set forth in the accompanying claims.